So I've been fishing wooly buggers and other streamers by casting and immediately strip retrieving. Is this the most effective method? I heard another guy mention that he drifts them and then strips them back.

My question applies to wooly buggers and to other streamers like clousers, BNDace, Mickey Finn, etc.

I think wat makes a wooly bugger so good is the action in the tail. I useualy fish it by giving the rod little short jerks, if I was going to fish them on a dead drift i'd just as well use a wooly worm.

with wooly buggers theres no wrong way you just have to expirement with what works for you i personally drift them and swing them letting them hang in the current on seems for a sec ill give it a few strips and jerks on the way in but most of them take it on the swing or drif t but as for other streamers i stip them at varying speeds mainly start with an up and across and strip it back in seems to work with a few twitches too *disclaimer* i am not the most effective streamer fishernan nor fly fisherman for that matter ** you just gotta play with it to find what you like

Posted on: 2011/3/20 20:28

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fly fishing - an addiction in which no one wants an intervention

I just fished an olive bugger today and caught all my trout on it. I kind of thing of them as a probe. As long as you can cast them ok a beadhead bugger can be drifted, stripped, hung out in the current, lobbed into an eddy, sunk to the bottom whatever.

I let them drift around rocks, between rocks or wherever I think a trout maybe be lying in wait. I use every conceivable method I can think of with a bugger, it's almost like bass fishing. If there is a deep hole below a run I may cast it far upstream and let it drift down to get some depth. You will eventualy catch some fish and realize what works for you.

Today while fishing I was roll casting over a run and hangin' it out in a little deep pocket / eddy on the opposite side of the run. I had to keep my rod raised up high and continuously mend my line to keep it in the pocket. I felt some action and set the hook catching a rainbow. That took some skill, however my first hookup today happened to be a brown hooked while simply drifting through a slow deep hole right out in front of me.

Just remember always keep your line mended or at least no unnecesary slack floating around or you may miss a strike on a bugger or streamer.

As James said, sometimes the situation will dictate how you can fish a bugger with eddies and seams. And as Afish said quartering upstream with a swing is effective.

If you want some practice and have your choice of water, here's what I'd suggest:1. Find a nice pool with a riffle at the head2. Cast 45 degrees upstream into the riffle allowing you bugger some time to sink3. Dead drift the bugger through the riffle and into the head of the pool while keeping your line as tight as possible4. Continue to mend your line and follow the bugger with the tip of your rod until you're pointed 45 degrees downstream5. Stop following with your rod tip and allow the bugger to swing in an arc to a stop below you6. Wait 2-3 seconds then twitch your rod tip7. Twitch/Strip your bugger toward you in whatever erratic motion you choose

You'll catch some fish on the dead drift, you'll catch a lot of fish on the swing, you'll catch a lot of fish on your first twitches after the swing, and you'll catch some on the strip back in.

The above post pretty much sums it up as a general guide, and you never know when a trout is going to strike a bugger.

My favorite is when you can see the bugger below the surface and a trout swims up fast from the depths and nails it near the surface.

Sometimes they miss, but don't get too excited and jerk it away if they miss. They sometimes swim around all crazy after a missed strike like they're spooked, but they are really searching for their escaped meal so keep it right where it was.

There is no wrong way to fish buggers...the big things for me were simple trial and error... I have stripped them under logs, brush etc. I have also let them drift in big pools often getting hits on the swing, if not then vary the retrieve... and sooner or later find what they want... I also weigh some with lead wire and others I dont, depends on the water. Biggest thing I have found is color. I have never, some people wont believe it, caught a trout on black bugger! Olive, white (red thread gill) and brown have been great and are almost all I fish! hope this helps.

... if you're getting a lot of short strikes, which is very common on the swing, hard and deadly hit but no connection, try to strip-set (pull line and lift rod straight up instead of at an angle)...

... or start tying a small stinger on. I'm going to experiment w. some tubes and sink-tip's next weekend on the local lake for pike.

Posted on: 2011/3/26 0:17

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Sure, we can assiduously three-quarter our wets down stream, mend, and wait out each fly swing, which to my way of thinking, anyway, relegates to the angler to role of butler, rather than nemesis.

Ok so I went fishing Sunday and as usual started right out with the olive bugger and what a great day. Landed 12 nice bows in 1 hour and a couple smaller browns. I tied up some smaller booger variations using peacock or I've dub for body and rabbit hair and flash for tail in size 10 with a bead. I tied these at about 18 in trailing my normal size 8 booger. The biggest fish all day was on the trailer! With a stripping action up stream I had a blast. That dropper had so much action in the water it was nuts. Def do that again.